


Here's Looking at You

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [59]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Insecurity, reassurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 05:38:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14395440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: Asami has trouble seeing herself through her own eyes--literally. Good thing there's another set of eyes there to tell her what she needs to hear!





	Here's Looking at You

Korra was enjoying the beautiful evening from the balcony of their apartment when she heard the door open inside. Just knowing Asami was home made her smile—truly, even after all these years, seeing Asami made her heart flutter.

The look on Asami’s face, though, dampened things. “Rough day?” Korra asked swooping in for a quick kiss.

Asami nodded as she kissed her back. “Head’s killing me. I think I’d like a drink.”

Korra frowned, watching her wife deposit her briefcase in its spot by the door and move into the kitchen. “Hard meetings?” Korra asked.

Asami shook her head. “No, nothing like that. It was just a load of paperwork, and that _never_ leaves me in a good mood. There was this one contract, hundred and fifty pages, and it seemed like every single one had hand revisions in the margin… ugh!”

Korra leaned against the wall, her arms crossed, nodding. “And, by chance, did you happen to wear your glasses when you were reading over all these contracts?

Asami set her glass on the counter with a little more force than necessary. She did not turn toward her wife as she opened her favorite fire whiskey and poured. “No.”

Korra rolled her eyes. “Asami, we’ve _talked_ about this!”

“Korra, I really don’t want to have this argument right now.”

“Of course you don’t. Because your head hurts. Because you were _squinting all day_.”

Asami sighed, sipping her drink. “It’s not that big a deal, Korra. Really.”

Korra gave her a flat look. “And neither is wearing glasses when you need to. Your dad did!”

“My dad had terrible eyesight.”

“Asami.”

Asami sighed, looking down into her tumbler, sloshing the whiskey around. “My eyesight isn’t nearly as bad as his.”

“Which is why you only need them for reading and drafting.”

“That’s most of what I do all day, Korra!”

“Which makes it even more ridiculous that you refuse to wear something that will help you!”

Asami growled, slamming back the rest of her drink. She turned to pour another.

“Asami, don’t.”

“What, I can’t enjoy a drink when I want, too?”

“Are you going to enjoy it?” Korra asked, gently resting a hand on Asami’s shoulder as she stepped up behind her. “Or are you just trying to numb yourself?”

Asami reached down, clasping Korra’s free hand. “I’m being ridiculous, aren’t I?”

Korra twined their fingers together, curling their clasped hands around Asami so the taller woman was wrapped in her arms. Once Asami finally admitted that, the battle was mostly won. “I would never say that.”

“Hmm.” Asami leaned her head into Korra’s. “I’m not going to point out that you didn’t answer the question.”

Korra chuckled. “Thanks. But I’m not dropping the glasses conversation, either.”

She felt Asami frown.

“Talk to me about it. I’ve got you trapped and I can kiss your neck until you fess up.”

“You fight dirty.”

“I fight to win. I learned that from you.”

Asami chuckled, but Korra could feel she was still tense. Still hesitant.

“Do the glasses not help?”

“No, they do…” Asami admitted.

“Do they remind you of your dad?”

“No more than anything else.”

Korra nodded. “Do they hurt?”

“They’re fine,” Asami said, her voice a little snappish.

Korra placed a soft kiss on her neck, massaging her shoulder with one hand. Asami made a soft sound in her throat as that tension released.

“You don’t like how they look,” Korra stated.

Asami turned her head away—giving Korra easier neck access. “I… no. I’m too young to need reading glasses, it’s… I’m still young.”

“You are,” Korra said before delivering another kiss, higher up near Asami’s chin. “Wearing glasses doesn’t make you old.”

“It makes me _feel_ old. It makes me…” Asami shook her head. “It’s not the way I picture myself.”

“Hmm,” Korra said, and the vibration made Asami shudder. “You think it would ruin your look? The Asami mystique?”

Asami laughed, but didn’t deny it.

“Are they in your briefcase? Same place they’ve been all week?”

Asami swallowed. “Yeah.”

Korra stepped away.

Asami staggered a little, steadying herself on the counter. Korra chuckled, backing into the doorway and striking a pose, one arm raised up and her head tilted to let her hair hang. “Answer a question for me: how do I look?”

“Like a dork,” Asami said, grinning.

“A pretty dork?”

“A beautiful one.”

Korra nodded, turning on her heels to grab Asami’s briefcase and rummage through it. She found the glasses in their box inside, slipped them on her face, then turned back around and struck the same pose. “And now?”

“Just as dorky.”

“Any less beautiful?”

Asami sighed. “No. Of course not.”

Korra pulled the glasses off, then furrowed her brow to squint. “How about now?”

Asami snorted. “I don’t look like that!”

“Not yet. I’ve seen you skim menus. You’ll get wrinkles around your eyes, that way.”

“So you think this is a vanity thing?”

“Isn’t it?”

Asami opened her mouth to argue, but couldn’t find one. “I’m not like that!”

“You’re not proud of your beauty? C’mon, Asami… you’ve spent your life always being the most beautiful woman in the room.”

“That hasn’t been true since I started hanging out with you,” Asami smirked.

Who was the dork now? “We both know that there’s so much more to you than your looks. The whole city knows that! The whole world, and all the spirits besides. But that doesn’t mean you haven’t gotten _used_ to being beautiful. Made use of it. Even let yourself be a little proud of it.”

Asami frowned. “Do you really think that?”

Korra heard the hurt forming behind the question. “Asami, you’re as proud of your looks as I am of mine.” She raised one arm and flexed, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“That’s different,” Asami said, not taking the bait. “You’ve worked hard for years to have your amazing body, and you know I appreciate the heck out of it.”

“Every chance you get,” Korra purred, hoping to break Asami’s mood.

She still didn’t bite. “What did I have to be proud of? My mother was a beautiful woman, and I took after her. I didn’t pick my face!”

“Or your eyes,” Korra said, stepping back toward her. She opened the glasses, and held them in front of Asami’s face. _I’m going to put these on you,_ she said with a look. 

Asami sighed. _Fine._

Korra settled them onto her, then took a step back. “Well, look at that,” Korra said. “Snazzy, as always.”

“You always say that.”

“It’s always true.”

“You’re biased.”

“Maybe. Doesn’t make you any less beautiful.”

“I still just…” Asami motioned toward her face, “don’t see myself this way!”

“What you do and don’t see is kinda the point of this conversation,” Korra said with a smirk.

Asami rolled her eyes.

Korra clapped her hands on Asami’s forearms. “If I can say what your real problem is, in one guess, do you promise you’ll start wearing those at work?”

Asami shrugged. “If I knew what the real problem was, I’d have already dealt with it.”

“That’s… actually close to the problem, I think,” Korra said, lowering her hands to Asami’s waist. “It’s not that you’re aging—at least, not just. It’s not that it changes how you look—not just that, either. It’s that it wasn’t your idea. You had no say in it.”

“You… think it’s a control thing?”

“I think it’s an anxiety thing, maybe?” Korra said, dipping her forehead forward. Asami did the same, until they touched. They each closed their eyes.  “When I was hurt, and no longer felt right in my own body… hacking off my hair was part of my way to get my life back. To feel like I had some control. It made me feel less helpless.”

“This isn’t anything like that,” Asami protested.

“Not in scope, no,” Korra admitted. “But let’s not get into another round of comparing wounds.

Asami chuckled. Her hands found their way to Korra’s shoulders.

“It’s not that the glasses aren’t how you see yourself. It’s that caring this much about your appearance, to the point of vanity, isn’t how you see yourself.”

“I… I don’t want to be prissy,” Asami said, surprising strain in her voice.

“And you’re not,” Korra says. “There’s a difference between caring about your appearance and _only_ caring about your appearance. And that isn’t you. That’s never been you.”

“I… if I was just trying not to be prissy, I’d have worn them all the time just to prove the point to myself.”

“Unless you were so mixed up about it you decided to push the issue down and ignore it altogether.”

Asami sighed. “That _does_ sound like me.”

“Just a little,” Korra said with a smile. “Too many variables to solve for at once, focus on other problems instead.”

“... and wait for the Avatar to swoop in and save the day again?”

“Or for your wife to remind you how beautiful you are, no matter what’s hanging off your face.”

Asami rolled her head back, bringing them into a kiss. Not a quick one of greeting, but a longer, more thoughtful one. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Korra smiled back, their lips still a breath apart. “After all, need to make sure you’re able to see every detail of my fantastic bod.”

Asami snorted. “Well, since I’m wearing the glasses now, perhaps I should check and make sure all those details are like I remember them…”

 

**

 

The next day, when Asami arrived at work, there was a piece of paper on her desk. At first, she thought it was blank, then she noticed the tiny flecks in the middle. Holding it up and squinting, she could make out that it was text, barely, but the writing was just too small to see.

Sighing, she set down her briefcase, pulled out her glasses, and had another go. Sure enough, the words showed up clear: “You look even snazzier than usual!”

Asami smiled, set the paper aside, and sat down. Glasses on, she set to work.   

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Visit me on my tumblr! Say hi! ](https://threehoursfromtroy.tumblr.com/)


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